Automatic reel



J 6,1948. w. E. NORDMARK 2,434,119

' AUTOMATIC REEL Filed .Oct. 2, 1946 2 sheets-sheet 1 J INVENTOR FalterE.N0rdmark BYMMJ ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 6, 1948 AUTOMATIC REEL Walter'E. Nordmark, GrandRapids, Mich., assignor to American Seating Company,Grand Rapids, Mich, a corporation of New Jersey Application October 2,1946, Serial No. 700,673

- 12 Claims.

The present invention relates to :automatic reels, and more particularlyto .an automatic, inertia-operated, safety reel for taking up the cableof a shoulder harness by means of which an occupant of an airplane orother vehicle is secured in his chair.

The primary objects of the invention are to provide an improvement ofthe automatic reel disclosed in my-copending application Serial#587,411, filed April 9, 1945; to providea reel for reeling in andpaying out the cable of a shoulder harness to permit freedom of movementto the wearer of the harness, which reel has inertiaactuated parts forpreventing paying out of the cable during a collision or crash landingand which has means for positively locking the reel during suchemergency and maintaining the same in locked condition until suchemergency has passed and the reel is manually unlocked.

These objects are attained by the illustrative embodiment of theinventionshowniin the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view, from the side and rear, of an automaticinertia-operated cable reel showing my new locking device incorporatedtherein;

Figure 2 is a rear elevational view' of the de-' vice, the housingmember thereof being shown in vertical section taken on line 2-2 ofFigure 3;

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view thereof taken on line 33 ofFigure 2;

Figure 4 is a View partly in top plan and partly in section similar toFigure 3 and showing certain parts of the device in dilferent movedpositions;

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure land showing parts of the device instill other moved position.

The automatic reel shown inthese drawings is adapted to be secured tothe rear panel l0 (shown fragmentarily in Figures 3-5) of a vehiclechair such as the pilot seat of an airplane as by means of bolts H andnuts 12, and is adapted for attachment to a shoulder-harness (not shown)for the chair occupant in such manner that the cable is payed out whenthe occupant leans forwardly in the chair and is taken up by the reelwhen the occupant leans rearwardly. The normal sitting position is, ofcourse, with the back of the occupant against the chair back in whichposition a maximum amount of the cable is taken up by the reel. Howeverirrespective of the occupants position, it is desirable that thereellock against paying out at the time of collision or crashlanding ofthe vehicle so that the chair occupant issecured against being thrownfarther forward and thus possibly injured by contact with the instrumentpanel, controls, or other part of the vehicle. The probability is thatthe chair occupant will be in a normal sitting position against thechair back atthe time of such emergency, and it is therefore desirablethat the cable reel be positively locked against paying out after aninitial crash until such time that the reel is manually unlocked, thustoprevent injury to the occupant during ensuing crashes or rebounds. Themechanism for temporarily locking the reel at the instant of a crash isdescribed in detail and claimed in my co-pending application identifiedabove, and it is briefly described below in order to-make clear therelationship between said mechanism and the stay-lock mechanism of thepresent invention.

The bolts H and nuts l2, in addition to securing the automatic reelto'the rear panel 10 of the chair back, serve also to secure the base il and the housing member I5 of the device together in assembly. The baseM has a'eentral, rearwardly extending spindle I6 provided with a forwardflange 11 secured in a recess H3 in the base by means of rivets I9. Amachine screw 20 threaded in the rearward end of the spindle I6 securesthe center of the housing member IE to the spindle.

A drum 2| is rotatably and slidably mounted on the spindle l6, and thecable l3 has one end thereof secured to the drum and extends through anopening in the housing member IS, the other end of said cable beingsecured to the shoulder harness. A coil spring 22 has one end thereofsecured to the spindle l6 and the other end thereof secured to thedrumZl and said spring 23 normally urges the drum 2| in a direction forwinding the cable [3 thereon, thus to take up any slack in the cable.The cable is wound into a recess 23 in the drum 2|. The base I4 and drum2| are provided with complementary interlocking ratchet surfaces 24 and25 respectively which are adapted to engage when the drum slidesforwardly toward the base to prevent rotation of the drum in a directionfor unwinding and paying out the cable l3. A spring unit comprisingcomplementary leaf springs 26 and 21 is interposed between the base l4and drum 2! so that the drum is normally urged away from the base andthe ratchet surfaces 24 and 25 are thus normally disengaged to permitpaying out of the cable in response to the chair occupants forwardmovements. In the event of a collision or other emergency as abovedescribed, the inertia of the drum 2| causes the drum to slide forwardlyrelative to the vehicle and into ratchet engagement with the base l4thus to prevent paying out of the cable at such time.

The chair occupant may under certain conditions prefer to set the deviceso that the drum is in ratchet engagement with the base and the cable I3is thus prevented from paying out. This may be accomplished by means ofa manually controlled switch (not shown) located within reach of thechair occupant and connected bya flexible control cable 28 to a controllever 29 fulcrumed in the housing member 15 and provided with a yoke arm30 adapted to bear against opposite sides of the rearward surface of thedrum 2i. The yoke arm 3!] is normally urged rearwardly by means of acoiled compression spring 3! interposed between the head 32 of a pin 33on the control cable 28 and a bracket 34 secured to the housing member land having therein a slide bearing for the pin 33. A tension spring 35provides a yielding connection between the pin 33 and the control lever29, so that when the drum is moved forwardly by means of the yoke arm,said drum is free to rotate in a direction for taking up cable slack,but not to rotate in the opposite or paying-out direction.

The stay-lock or permanent locking mechanism of the present inventioncomprises a spring metal leaf 36 having an end 3'! thereof secured as byrivets 38, 39 to the housing member 15, said housing member thus servingas a mounting member for mounting the end 3'! of the leaf spring 35 infixed relation to the base i l of the device. A locking pin 40 issecured near the other end All of the spring leaf 36 and extends throughan opening 42 in the housing member i5, transaxially of the drum. Thespring metal leaf 38 normally urges the locking pin 4! into engagementwith the outer peripheral surface of the drum 2|, rearwardly of thecable-receiving recess 23 in the drum, and the pin 48 thus bears againstthe rotating drum when the drum is in its normal, rearward positionshown in Figure 3. It will be seen, however, that when the drum 2! isslid forwardly by inertia into ratchet engagement with the base 14 asshown in solid lines in Figure 4, the spring leaf 36 urges the lockingpin 4i] inwardly and behind the drum 25. When the pin is in thisposition, the drum is positively prevented from moving rearwardly beyondits position of engagement with the pin 55 and with the base I 4, asseen in dotted lines in Figure 4. The drum is thus locked againstrotation in either direction and the cable is neither taken up nor payedout when this condition obtains.

In order that the reel may be manually unlocked after the emergency haspassed, the free end 4! of the spring metal leaf 36 is extended upwardlyinto engagement with the control lever 29. It will be seen that manualmovement of the control lever 29 to its solid line position shown inFigure 5, will also move the spring leaf 35 to its position shown insolid lines in this view, thus withdrawing the locking pin 40 from thepath of the drums sliding movement. When the control lever is releasedand the drum is urged rear-' wardly by the spring unit 25, 21, said drumenters the path of inward movement ofthe locking pin as indicated indotted lines in Figure 5, and the drum and locking pin ultimately assumetheir original, normal positions shown in Figure 3.

It will thus be seen that the present invention provides a stay-lockfeature for a cable reel of the temporary inertia-locking type, andwhile but one specific embodiment of the invention has been herein shownand described it will be understood that other embodiments thereof mayfall within the scope of the following claims without departing from thespirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a device of the class described, a base, a drum slidably mountedon the base and rotatable thereon, interlocking means on the base andthe drum adapted to engage when the drum is slid toward the base,locking means operable by the sliding movement of the drum toward thebase for automatically locking said drum in its slid position ofinterlocking engagement with the base, and manually operable means forreleasing said locking means.

2. In a device of the class described, a base, a drum slidably mountedon the base and normally rotatable in both directions thereon,interlocking means on the base and the drum adapted to engage when thedrum is slid toward the base to prevent rotation of the drum in onedirection, locking means operable by the sliding movement of the drumtoward the base for automatically locking said drum in its slid positionof interlocking engagement with the base, and manually operable meansfor releasing said looking means.

3. In a device of the class described, a base, a drum slidably mountedon the base and rotatable thereon, interlocking means on the base andthe drum adapted to engage when the drum is slid toward the base, meansfor normally urging the drum away from the base, locking means operableby the sliding movement of the drum toward the base for automaticallylocking said drum in its slid position of interlocking engagement withthe base, and manually operable means for releasing said locking means.

i. In a device of the class described, a base, a drum rotatably andslidably mounted on the base, a cable connected to said drum and adaptedto be wound thereon, means for normally yieldingly urging said drum in arotating direction for winding the cable thereon, interlocking means onthe base and the drum adapted to engage when the drum is slid in onedirection relative to the base to thus prevent rotation of the drum in adirection for unwinding the cable, locking means operable by the slidingmovement of the drum in said one direction for automatically locking thedrum in said slid position, and manually operable means for releasingsaid locking means.

5. In a device of the class described, a base, a drum rotatably mountedon the base and slidable relative thereto, means for normally yieldinglyurging the drum away from the base, a cable connected to said drum andadapted to be wound thereon, means for normally yieldingly urgingsaiddrum in a rotating direction for winding the cable thereon,interlocking means on the base and the drum adapted to engage when thedrum is slid toward the base to thus prevent rotation of the drum in adirection for unwinding the cable, locking means operable by the slidingmovement of the drum toward the base forautomatically looking the drumin its slid position of interlocking engagement with the base, andmanually operable means for releasing said locking means.

6. In a device of the class described, a base, a drum slidably mountedon the base and rotatable thereon, interlocking means on the base andthe drum adapted to engage when the drum is slid toward the base, amounting member associated with the base, a locking pin mounted on themounting member movable transaxially of the drum, a spring on themounting member for urging the locking pin into normal engagement withthe outer periphery of the drum and into automatic locking engagementbehind said drum when the drum is slid into interlocking engagement withthe base.

7. In a device of the class described, a base, a drum slidably mountedon the base and rotatable thereon, interlocking means on the base andthe drum adapted to engage when the drum is slid toward the base, amounting member associated with the base, a locking pin mounted on themounting member movable transaxially of the drum, a spring on themounting member for urging the locking pin into normal engagement withthe outer periphery of the drum and into automatic locking engagementbehind said drum when the drum is slid into interlocking engagement withthe base, and manually operable means for releasing said locking means.

8. In a device of the class described, a base, a drum slidably mountedon the base and normally rotatable in both directions thereon,interlocking means on the base and the drum adapted to engage when thedrum is slid toward the base to prevent rotation of the drum in onedirection, a mounting member associated with the base, a locking pinmounted on the mounting member movable transaxially of the drum, and aspring on the mounting member for urging the locking pin into normalengagement with the outer periphery of the drum and into automaticlocking engagement behind said drum when the drum is associated with thebase, a locking pin mounted on the mounting member movable transaxiallyof the drum, a spring on the mounting member for urging the locking pininto normal engagement with the outer periphery of the drum and intoautomatic locking engagement behind said drum when the drum is slid intointerlocking engagement with the base, and manually operable means forreleasing said locking means.

10. In a device of the class described, a base, a drum rotatably andslidably mounted on the base, a cable connected to said drum and adaptedto be wound thereon, means for normally yieldingly urging said drum in arotating direction for winding the cable thereon, interlocking means onthe base and the drum adapted to engage when the drum is slid in onedirection relative to the base to thus prevent rotation of the drum in adirection for unwinding the cable, a mounting member associated with thebase, a locking pin mounted on the mounting member movable transaxiallyof the drum, and a spring on the mounting member for urging the lockingpin into normal engagement with the outer periphery of the drum and intoautomatic locking engagement behind said drum when the drum is slid intointerlocking engagement with the base.

11. In a device of the class described, a base, a drum rotatably mountedon the base and slidable relative thereto, means for normally yieldinglyurging the drum away from the base, a cable connected to said drum and.adapted to be wound thereon, means for normally yieldingly urging saiddrum in a rotating direction for winding the cable thereon, interlockingmeans on the base and the drum adapted to engage when the drum is slidtoward the base to thus prevent rotation of the drum in a direction forunwinding the cable, a mounting member associated with the base, alocking pin mounted on the mounting member movable transaxially of thedrum, 3, spring on the mounting member for urging the locking pin intonormal engagement with the outer periphery of the drum and intoautomatic locking engagement behind said drum when the drum is slid intointerlocking engagement with the base, and manually operable means forreleasing said locking means.

12. In a device of the class described, a base, a drum slidably mountedon the base and normally rotatable in both directions thereon, means fornormally yieldingly urging the drum away from the base, a cableconnected to said drum and adapted to be wound thereon, means fornormally yieldingly urging said drum in a rotating direction for windingthe cable thereon, interlocking ratchets on the base and the drumadapted to engage when the drum is slid toward the base to thus preventrotation of the drum in a direction for unwinding the cable, a housingmember mounted on the base and enclosing said drum, a leaf springsecured to the exterior of said housing member, a, locking pin securedto the leaf spring and extending through an aperture in the housingmember and bearing against the outer periphery of said drum, saidlocking pin being pressed by the leaf spring into normal engagement withthe outer periphery of the drum and into automatic locking engagementbehind said drum when the drum is slid into ratchet interlockingengagement with the base, and manually operable means for releasing saidlocking means.

WALTER E. NQRDMARK.

